Most contemporary automobiles have water cooled engines with radiators to effectuate heat transfer from the cooling water to the ambient air. The typical radiator has a removable cap threadably received by the radiator to selectively open a passageway and permit the introduction of cooling water or other fluid media into the radiator interior. The radiator cap generally has a pair of radially extending lugs designed as abutment surfaces to assist in manually twisting the cap as it is being unscrewed for removal. Conventionally, radiators, including radiator caps, have been made of highly thermally conductive metal material and have been in direct contact with cooling media flowing through the radiator during engine operation. Due to the high temperature reached by the cooling media during engine operation and the high thermal conductivity of the materials involved, radiator caps often become too hot for manual removal from the radiator. Thus, removal of the cap is often delayed for a substantial period after the engine is shut off to permit the cooling of the entire radiator structure. Removal of the radiator cap from the radiator is also frequently hindered by bonding of the cap and radiator after the cap has been secured to the radiator for a prolonged period of time.
Attempts have been made in the past to facilitate removal of hot radiator caps. One such tool is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,035,466 wherein a hand tool with a planar surface is provided with a plurality of angularly extending ears. The planar surface and the attached ears are rotated by a rotating mechanism to unscrew the cap from the radiator opening and thereafter lift the cap for removal therefrom. The radiator cap remover of the above mentioned patent uses a lever to manually rotate a radiator cap engaging member to bring ears on the engaging member in abutment with lugs on the radiator cap. This prior art device requires two hands for effective operation and does not firmly grasp the radiator cap after the cap is removed from the radiator.